Flame control means for oil burners



H. K. WINTERS Filed May 15, 1950 FLAME CONTROL MEANS FOR OIL BURNERS V Nov. 4, 1952 IN VEN TOR. HA RRY K. W/NTERS BY gm a ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 4, 1952 FLAME CON TROL MEANS FOR OIL BURNERS Harry K. Winters, San Francisco, Calif., assignor to Ray 'Oil But-ner Co., San Francisco, Calif., a Corporation of California Application May 15, 1950, Serial No. 1625099 Clains.

`"invention relates to flame 'control means for oil burners and particularly to means tor controlling the fiame pattern of high pressure oil burners.

'It is conventional practice in high pressu'e oil vburners to provide a burner tip for delivering oil under pressure and to supply air under pressure in a somewhat circular pattern surrounding the burner tip and in many "cases to interpose vanes in the 'path of air flow to inpart a swirling motion thereto and create a twisting or swirling action which aide in the mixture of oil and air and thus contributes to efficient combustion. The flame pattern thus created is of `conical con-- tour diverging from the nozzle tip and into the fire box of the furnace With which the burner used.

The shape of the 'fire box of furnaces varies considerably and it is desirable tha-t a burner be capable of adjustment to produce a flame pattern vary-ing from long and narrow to short 'and wide se that the fiame can be made substantially to fill the area of the fire box in which com-- bustion 'takes place to provide even distribution ther-ein and to avoid the undesirable impingement of fiame against the 'wall of the fire box oppos-ite the burner or at other points in the fire box.

Present attempts at fiame shaping Cons-ist mainly of *changing the oil nozzle -spray angle, through 'nozzle design, without changing the air delivery pattern. This method is ineffective 'because, if the oilspray cone ang'le s'narrower than the air d'elivsry -cone ang-le, 'poor mixi ng -o'f the air and oil results `with consequent poor combustion and efficiency. If `the oil spray angle is wider than the air delivery cone angle, the oil 'spray is -entrained by 'the air and assumes the shape of the air pattern, thereby losing any effective 'fiame Shaping properties due to the oii spray angle alone.

In some devices, attempts are made to shape the flame by 'introducing a cylindrical envelope of air directly around the nozzie to produce a long narrow fiame. This air is not 'twisted or spun so .that the mixing of the air and oil spray is adverselyaffected. Also, sufficient air for combust'ion must be 'introduced into this cylindr ical envelope with the eect that the air passing through any outer vanes and 'forming a diverging conical envelope becomes excess air and lowers thecombustion efiiciency. The present invention differs from the attem ts last described in that it em loys a swirling fiow of air for admixture with the oil spray and an additional flow of air in a substantially cy-lindrical path which acts `to regulate the ame pattern without interfering with the admixture of oil and air which contributes to eicient combustion.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a high pressure oil burner With means for varying the con angle or fiame pattern without materially efiecting the ratio of oil and air which contributes to perfect combustion. Further and more specific objects and advantages o-f the invention and the manner in which these objects and advantages are accomplished are set forth in the following specication wherein reference is made in detail to the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a central longitudinal section through the delivery portion of an oil burner embodying the present invention,

Fig, 2 is a sectional view taken on th ;line II-I of Fig. l, and

Fig. 3 is a sectional View with burner tip and burner cup removed of the 'forward portion only of the burner taken on the line III- III of Fig. 2.

In order to illustrate the principies of the present invention, only those portions of the burner directly pertinent thereto hav been shown while the means for delivering oil into the air under pressure to the burner and the ignition means therefore may be of any conventional form and are not necessary to an Understanding of the flame control means herein disclosed.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing, sa conventional'burner tip 'is shown at li) as fitted to the end of a pipe H through which oil is delivered from a 'high pressure oil pump .not shown. A barrel !2 surrounds the burner tip and air from a blower, not shown, is introduced into the 'barrel and `fiows out of its open end for admixture With the oil delivered 'by the 'burner tip. .Also surrounding the tip and intercosed between the tip and the `barrel is a cup !3 concentric with the tioand the barrel and closed 'alt its inner end to cause 'the air to pass in the annular space between the 'barrel and the cup. A fiange M fixed to the open end of the barre'l has an inwardly tapered surface 1 5 tending to direct the flow of air inwardly against the diverging spray of oil emanating from the burner tip.

It is also common practice to impart a swirling action to the air by twisted Vanes interposed in its path of flow in order to create good mixture of oil and air .to enhance -combustion For this latter purpose, the present invention includes a collar inte posed between the cup l3 and the barrel l2 and carrying a plurality o-f inwardly projecting curved vanes I'I, the arrangement and configuraton of which is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.

In order to control the fiame pattern or cone angle of the fiame, the collar !6 of the present invention is somewhat smaller in diameter than the inside diameter of the barrel !2 so that a space or annular passage |3 through which air may flow surrounds the vanes H which impart the twisting or swirling action to the main Volume of air. The volume of air which passes through the annular space [8 may, according to the present invention, be controlled by moving the collar !6 forwardly toward the open end of the barrel l2 or rearwardly away from said end of the barrel. When moved to an extreme forward position, the collar abuts a shoulder !9 of the flange M to prohibit the flow of any air through the space !8 and as the collar is moved rearwardly away from the fiange ld, the Volume of air passing through the annular space !8 is increased. A typical conical fiame pattern is indicated at 20 in Fig. 1 and the angle indicated at "a" is that 'eferred to as the cone angle of the fiame pattern. such a flame pattern is created as a result of the oil sprayed from the burner tip and the swirling flow of air controlled by the vanes ll. However, the ccne angle "a" may be varied by regulating the Volume of the cylindrical envelope of air flowing through the annular passage B, an increased flow of this air tending to compress the cone or reduce the angle "a" and, therefore, elcngate the fiame pattern. This has been found a desirable way of varying the fiame pattern because the swirling action of the main Volume of air combining `with the oil spray is not interfered with and the means for controlling the flame pattern is extremely simple mechanically.

One simple form for controlling the adjustment of the collar IS is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 as a pair of sliding rods 2I threaded at one end into lugs 22 formed on the collar. The rods may be guided through bearings '23 on the cup |3 and may extend through the rear wall of the barrel !2, as shown, where they project and carry suitable knobs 24 for manual adjustment of the collar.

It is desirable that the various parts at the delivery end of the burner be maintained in concentric relationship and in the present case, the vanes I 'I bear against the exterior of the cup !3 and a plurality of small lugs 25 extend radially from the exterior of the collar l for guiding engagement with the interior of the barrel 2. The burner tip is held in concentricity with the cup !3 by the pipe H which passes through a suitably centered opening in the rear wall of the cup. The cup is illustrated as having several small openings 26 adjacent its rear end which admit to the interior of the cup just suficient air to purge it of any combustible mixture which might collect behind the burner tip but this quantity of air is not intended materially to eifect combustion.

I claim:

1. In an oil burner, a nozzle for spraying oil under pressure, a cup-like member surrounding the nozzle, a barrel surrounding and spaced from the cup-like member, means to deliver air through the barrel for mixture with the oil, a set of annularly arranged defiector vanes to impart a swirling action to the air arranged eXteriorly on the cup, and a collar supporting said vanes on the inner surface thereof, said collar being spaced from the interior of the barrel to provide a circular passage for air.

2. In an oil burner, a nozzle for spraying oil under pressure, a cup-like member surounding the nozzle, a barrel surrounding and spaced from the cup-like member, means to deliver air through the barrel for mixture with the oil, a set of annularly arranged defiector vanes to impart a, swirling action to the air arranged exteriorly of the cup, a collar supporting said vanes on the inner surface thereof, said collar being spaced from the interior of the barrel to provide a circular passage for air and means for Varying the size of said passage.

3. In an oil burner, a nozzle for spraying oil under pressure, a cup-like member surrounding the nozzle, a barrel surrounding and spaced from the cup-like member, means to deliver air through the barrel for mixture with the oil, a set of annularly arranged deflector vanes to impart a swirling action to the air arranged exteriorly of the cup, a collar supporting said vanes on the inner surface thereof, said collar being spaced from the interior of the barrel to provide a circular passage for air, a flange adjacent the end of the barrel, and means to adjust said collar to and away from said flange to vary the size of said circular passage.

4. In an oil burner of the character described comprising an oil spraying nozzle, a cup surrounding the nozzle, a barrel surrounding and spaced from the cup, means for deliverying a stream of air through the barrel for mixture With the oil, air stream splitting means within the space between the cup and barrel, means on one side of the air splitting means to cause a, part of the air to flow therefrom in a conical pattern and means on the other side of the air splitting means to direct the remainder of the air stream against the conical pattern to vary its shape.

5. In an oil burner of the character described comprising an oil spraying nozzle, a cup surrounding the nozzle, barrel surrounding and spaced from the cup, means for delivering a stream of air air through the barrel for mixture with the oil, air stream splitting means within the space between the cup and barrel, means on one side of the air splitting means to cause a part of the air to flow therefrom in a conical pattern, means on the other side of the air splitting means to direct the remainder of the air stream against the conical pattern to vary its shape, and adjusting means operatively associated with the air splitting means to adjust the amount of air flowing against the conical pattern.

HARRY K. WINTERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,066,806 Smith Dec. 2, 1935 2,181,527 Vollmer Apr. 27, 1938 2,222,031 Hammer June 1, 1939 2,232,04O Smoot July 10, 1939 2,325,893 Vollmer Feb. 14, 1941 2,502,664 Nest Oct. 6, 1947 

